Off Balance
by Rainstorm Amaya Arianrhod
Summary: If only Evin wasn't so perfect, so constantly courteous and charming, Miri wouldn't have tried to knock him off balance. If she hadn't, she would never have known what she'd missed. M/E, oneshot. A birthday present for the amazing Strapless. :


**A/N:** Everyone who reads my stuff regularly knows how I like taking ships/characters out of their comfort zone, as it were. This probably applies here: I think it's in character, but it's... unusual for M/E. Hell, it's practically subtitled 'Why Evin Doesn't Always Have To Take The Initiative, Damn It'. This M/E, however, despite its minor oddities, is special. Because** it's Strapless's birthday present**. Happy (rather belated) birthday. :)

**Disclaimer:** No, I'm not Tamora Pierce.

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Evin Larse liked to think of himself as a patient man, always balanced and in control- or at least, riding the wave of chaos with no prospect of falling off. And, generally speaking, he was. Miri Fisher, while she reserved the right to disapprove of his nocturnal wanderings, which after a certain point in each affair generally resulted in a sheepish Evin turning up in her room in need of a little medical attention, was very willing to admit that he'd been extremely patient with her as a novice Rider. Buri Tourakom, who was easy to displease, couldn't fault his patient work with nobles and bureaucrats, which had often eased any difficulty that hit the Riders. There had been a point, much to George's amusement, when five-year-old Alianne had decided that Evin was her special friend and followed him around for a considerable space of time, yet Evin had been very long-suffering about it. He might do odd things, play pranks and joke with his subordinate, but he was always balanced and you never caught him off guard. It could be very annoying; sometimes you just wanted him to lose his balance and prove he was still human.

However, now he was tired and at more or less the end of his tether where trainees were concerned. He even had paperwork left to deal with today. He collapsed onto a bench in the empty mess, paused silently for a moment, and beat his head gently against the table. Miri- who had much more experience in dealing with the young men and women who enlisted; her Group was mostly healing itself off the injury list now, and it would be a long slow process, so Miri taught the trainees in order to occupy herself -sauntered in. She was wearing a most unusually sadistic grin on her face. She sat opposite Evin, and waited for him to speak. He did. "Miri, please tell me we weren't... you know... that _awful _as trainees?"

Miri laughed, sensing a disturbance in the permanent Larse goodwill and balance and beginning to work out how she might seize the opportunity to knock Evin off his well-balanced perch. "That bad? No, Evin, we were much worse."

He groaned, and rested his head on the table again. "Surely not? I mean... the red-head, what's-his-name, he fell off because he forgot to check his pony hadn't breathed out when he was tightening the girth! And... oh, the Bazhir with the purple scarf-thing. She kept losing her stirrups!"

Miri got up, poured two drinks of apple juice from the jug nearby, and handed one to Evin. "I know you want a stiff brandy, but you have a bunch of tired, ignorant, inexperienced recruits to address in three quarters of a bell, and you can't give a speech full of fire and glory and how to make sure your pony's not breathing out when you tighten the girth if you're swaying," she explained.

Evin eyed her crossly from where his head was still laid on the table; he hadn't had any of the juice. "I do _not _start swaying after one brandy, Miriam Fisher."

"Depends on the size of the brandy. The incident at Dunlath comes to mind; who'd've thought Sir Sacherell could hold his drink that well? Look, Evin, they don't mean to be stupid, and they aren't really, they just don't know what they're doing. Don't you remember being a trainee? Teaching me to ride? And how you didn't take easily to lessons, and I didn't take easily to riding? Just enlisting takes some nerve, remember? Most of the bad ones'll be gone within a week, don't worry, and everything else comes with practice, lots and lots of it. I mean, look at us now!" Miri told him bracingly.

"Yes," Evin said slowly, so irritated now that he was unknowingly losing his perfect good humour and patient balance. He had winced when Miri had reminded him of the incident at Dunlath, possibly remembering the headache. "Yes, look at us now. I mean, years of mud, sweat, blood, tears and amusing stories involving alcohol and we're still bloody dancing around each other like idiots, pretending we don't find each other attractive every time Midwinter comes round and everyone else is pairing off!"

There was a deep silence. Miri stared at him, very surprised by this sudden declaration. It hadn't at all been what she expected, and she almost suspected him of trying to push her off balance in return until she recognised the sincerity with which he had spoken. "...You've had a brandy already, haven't you."

The Commander sighed, and shook his head, taking a large gulp of his hitherto untouched apple juice. "No, alas, I'm just tired." He grinned. "That, and I hoped to get a rise out of you, dearest Miriam." He knew she detested her given name, and shortened it to Miri on purpose, and now he was trying to deflect attention from his loss of balance after her so blunt rejection.

Miri reached across and cuffed him half-heartedly, inwardly unsure whether to be glad of her success or sorry that he had said that he cared for her now. She held quite a grudge against that permanent good humour from times gone by, but also nursed a severe soft spot for him. He ducked her blow, and she gave up, returning to her earlier theme of Why Trainee Riders Are Really Not That Terrible. "Evin, I promise you those trainees will manage to turn themselves into competent Riders, given time. Well, most of them will, the others will get themselves out because they can't take it, and then you know they were never suited to it in the first place. All right?" She reached over and squeezed the hand that wasn't holding the drink. _I wish she wouldn't touch me after she's more or less just said straight out she doesn't care_, Evin thought miserably, a man who had made one huge spur-of-the-moment gamble, something all the stories said was supposed to work, and lost the toss. "Now, I'm going to go have a bath," Miri continued, noticing with a twinge of guilt Evin's rather downcast expression and starting to have regrets about breaking that good humour, "because I'm going to go listen to an inspirational address given by the commander of the Riders in half a bell, and... I want a bath. See you, Evin." She let go of his hand, and got up to go.

Evin stood hurriedly as she walked round the end of the table, passing him, and said hurriedly "Miri, wait."

She looked over her shoulder. Evin had learnt to raise one eyebrow over the years: despite much effort, Miri had never managed to do so, but two raised eyebrows were just as effective. "What?"

"I- want a bath too." _How is it she can knock _me_ off balance?_

Her eyebrows shot even further upwards. "And what am I supposed to think of that? The men's and women's baths are _separate_."

"I don't know, but we can walk as far as the turnoffs together, yes?" Evin said, a touch desperately. It occurred to him that he simply didn't want to be out of her company.

Miri sighed, and decided to seize the moment and gratify that crush she'd always had on him, no matter whether she'd been deliberately manipulating him to lose his cool earlier. She stepped towards him. "For pity's sake, Evin Larse!" She pulled him towards her, and kissed him, straight on the lips. Startled by such behaviour from Miri of all people, it took a moment for Evin to react, but then he closed his arms about her, deepening the kiss.

Eventually, they broke apart. "Next time," Miri said softly, heart racing from both finally daring to do something she'd wanted to do for a long time and the kiss, "when you mean to tell someone how you feel, be a little less... sideways... about it, hmm? And try and pick a time when they can say yes if they want to say yes!" Evin nodded, stunned. _So this is what they mean when they say that even your oldest friends can surprise you._ Gently, she detached herself from him and turned to go. "I really do need that bath." She winked at him, copying the extravagant Player manners he sometimes used. "See you in half a bell's time, love."

_Actually, I don't mind being off balance,_ Evin thought, perhaps a little dizzily.


End file.
